Reading shades
by celestial power
Summary: Kagome asks Sesshomaru to join their group and then she almost strikingly realizes that he was everything...and...much more than what she had imagined.


**Disclaimer: Inuyasha and its character belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Only this story belongs to me!**

_**Bully**_

Kagome decided that she could not think straight, she had become far too much muddle-headed. She wanted to plan this out meticulously but was being unable to do so. The situation in front of her was what had been affecting her. She was at present debating about how she could go about asking Sesshomaru for a joint alliance in the hunt of the vile spider. But this was not the correct course of action, her consciousness supplied for she was very much contradicting her usual behaviour. She was supposed to be overly concerned about her hanyou companion who was tussling on the ground with his elder brother in an all-out brawl; instead she was worrying her lips about coaxing said elder brother into an alliance. She was ashamed for her near mental eye-roll at the brother's expense and equally apprehensive at how she could turn around the situation to her, their, own benefits. A million thoughts were running into her head, miles per second and was making her more light-headed. She raised a shaking hand to appease the throb between her brows and sighed once, twice and thrice.

Sesshomaru was a very respected and feared youkai but that never meant that he could not engage in all out-brawls like his instincts always demanded. This afternoon, after a very hearty meal and a good-natured stretch, he had come across the rag-tag group of his half-breed, half-brother. He had always hated his half-breed brother and had always ignored the humans of his group and wanted to never cross their paths, and or to ignore them completely. But today, he was feeling very good, very alive and had wanted to exercise his body by rolling over the ground in a good-natured fight with his _somewhat _kin. He was a dog after all. This however, he could not achieve by himself, he was to be respected _damnit_. So, he did it the way he knew would engage the other party without his motive being necessarily questioned. He merely poked the half-breed with his usual _you are a stain on this one's family line _but this time the cherry on top being his inability to fight without his sword. That got the desired result, Inuyasha let go of his sword and lunged at his brother, to which the elder one gladly returned the favour. Within no time they were tussling on the ground, punching, kicking and biting-like normal dogs. No one seemed to care and Sesshomaru beat the pulp out of his brother because he very well damn can!

Kagome was now worrying her lips silly. She had no damn clue as to where to start. Her lips trembled and her hand shook, her palms becoming clammy from her constant worrying. She very well knew that she had to get her point across today, now or never! The group though had not really vocalized their concerns but had very much silently agreed onto inviting the dog-lord into an alliance, yes even Inuyasha. Though that had been a bit suspicious in the beginning but in the end had been dismissed as a _starting to mature _scenario. Kagome had been very glad for that. As to why she was the only one who was fiddling with the idea of vocalizing her thought was because the entire group had sort of _pinned _her with their expectation. She will never know why she was the one who had to do this since Miroku would have been a far better choice, but… _oh well._ She decided that their dog-eat-dog fight had gone too long and needed to be diverted to a more pressing issue. Kagome cleared her throat-

"Sess…Sesshomaru, I think we should become allies." She almost squeaked out, her voice fading into such a low whisper that even Sesshomaru had to strain to hear from the one-mile distance between them.

A tense almost mocking silence followed, Kagome looked down at her toes, trying to stop the tears from escaping her eyes. What with everyone staring at her as if she had grown a second head. Even the brothers had stopped fighting and was looking at her in a way that she had just offered them to have a nice time, three-ways included! She shivered and tightened her fists. Ah… It was so damn embarrassing! She was shocked at how she was reacting. She was reminded of the _sissy good for nothing _female-leads that she had always hated in a romance novel. But she was them now, she was a sissy and utterly foolish mess of a trembling Kagome who was starting to deflate from the piercing stare of the lord. She thought that her pounding-heart and hesitant mind could get her nowhere. She knew this much that the lord would never negotiate with a female, much less an insecure female. She strengthened her resolve and shook her head to force stop her tears.

Sesshomaru was in the middle of punching his brother into next realm when he heard the tiny squeak of his brother's woman. He was shocked to say the least, he was addled as to how she could demand something of him much less something like an alliance at such a time. Did she not consider their- situation? He stopped mid-punch and looked back at the tiny female, _trying_ to stop the surprise from showing on his face. He had always known that she was a bit wrong in her head but had never really known that she was so utterly foolish. No one spoke. He looked closely, squinting his eyes and sniffed the air strongly. He could see more like smell, _ignoring the stench from his brother_,the tell-tale signs of tears from the tiny female. Was she crying? His lips twitched into a phantom smirk. _Hnn_!This should be entertaining. He lifted himself up from his kneeling position and zoomed the distance between them coming close-very close for _her comfort _and stared down his nose.

Kagome looked up only to find the sharp edge of a very bony armour poking her nose, threatening to scrap it bloody. She wondered why this guy always did this? Was he not already the epitome of intimidation? He had no regard about personal space she decided. She took a step back to provide her poor nose some space and looked up into his eyes. She for sometime had known that he always liked people staring into his twin suns for eyes while negotiating. For purposes like weighing their motives she presumed. She stared back at him, with quivering lids, taking a shaky breath to right herself. She almost punched him when he raised his damn perfect brow silently demanding her to back-up her demand. She had wondered if he would even listen to her and now that he was standing in front of her, his eyes attentive, she was at a loss of words, her already muddled mind almost short circuiting, as her prepared piece of presentation jumbled altogether in her brain.

"Ummm… you know…for starters we would love and appreciate an added means of strength to our group." She started; her voice almost cracking but still holding his attention.

"Hnn… _Love?!__" _he almost smirked. She looked at the him then, small tears pricking the sides of her eyes. He was becoming far too much interested. He stared at her; his poker face mode full on activated.

"I…I mean love…as in yeah…we would love to have you…as in as an…a... ally. Aah… yeah." She nodded as an afterthought. "We would love it if you could join us. Honestly, Sesshomaru, we have been thinking of asking you. All of us! We had kind of agreed to this. We want… no, need an extra hand and you would be better than we could ever even wish for." She was regaining her voice now. This was easy, telling him how _all of them_ wanted his aid._Strength in number _she reminded herself. She looked at her companion and was relieved to see the proud expression on their face. She was happy that they were there, to protect her, to give her strength.

He was a bit… peeved if he could say. He did not like her regaining her confidence. He had never really liked her, nor hated her, just ignored her, in the past. She had always just been there. He had sort of disliked her fierceness and her more than bothersome need to interfere in their so called brotherly tough love, but he had for the most part ignored her. She was there and did nothing to bother him, well not enough to annoy him, mostly, and hence he had seen no need to indulge her. But he had always known that she was intelligent, how, that he could not answer, he just knew, instinctively. Still, he had liked the way she squirmed under his gaze now. He dismissed this as one of his _bouts of_ _fickleness _and pressed onwards. Not opening his mouth just staring down at her, with his oh so great imitation of an intimidating statue.

Kagome gulped again, her previous confidence, all but _poofed _into nothingness. Why was he not saying anything, did he want her to continue? This was the thing she hated about this guy. He was so damn... _impossible_. She once again stopped her fist from punching his prefect nose and she inwardly bristled trying to get off with her next part in her presentation. Oh… she had known okay, she had known how difficult this would be, she had therefore readied many points, a trump card in tow...obviously!

"Mmm… you see we are hunting for the same guy anyway and it would save all of us some time if we would join forces and… you could hit Inuyasha regularly… well not too much" she whispered. But the hanyou heard that and shouted curses, the likes of which could very well nullify their precipice hanging negotiation. Kagome's eyes flashed and his neck was pulled to the ground with a ridiculous crunch, his nose she nodded in satisfaction.

Sesshomaru smirked, almost… almost deciding to agree to this alliance. But he could not have that. He was the lords of bully for no reason. He just pretended to look at his claws, blowing imaginary dust from them and looked at her expectantly. Kagome gritted her teeth, her tears of frustration almost starting to break free from her eyes. Sesshomaru had an insane urge to step forward and pinch her cheeks. She was being, what Rin had referred to again? Ah… yes... _cute_. She was being far too cute, what with the look of a bristling cat and those prickling tears on the corner of her eyes. She was _adorable_. His conscience gave a twisted smirk.

"We would… would also take care of Rin-chan. She requires a mentor you know; humans require to talk to humans. Specially females. She would be growing up soon and you would need someone to look after her. Ne… Sango-chan?" Kagome turned to her friend to which Sango nodded. Kagome smiled back at her and returned to look at Sesshomaru. He noticed from the corner of his eyes, the interaction between the females. He was unimpressed. Kagome deflated again, looking at his bored face. She had thought that this would be her trump card. What happened to this being the cherry on top part of her presentation? She was unsure if she could make him agree anymore. Defeated, she almost whimpered at her sorry self, she was pathetic, useless!

Sesshomaru was finally satisfied with what he was seeing. Her face was red now, from frustration and bit crestfallen from her defeat he supposed. She was wrong to ask him from the beginning. He was not interested in joining their small group from the very beginning. But he still indulged because he found that she was too easy to squirm under his gaze. He had to almost bite his lips to keep him from growling in satisfaction. He went for the killing blow, the one which had always ended his enemies…_ negotiating partners_. He was a tactician after all, a champion in politics. He narrowed his eyes in a mean way, threatening her to dare say another word, his eyes flashing with delight of her defeat. _Far too easy_!

Kagome sighed and looked at him for one final time, then she noticed it, a look… oh… she knew that look. The all famous _bully look_. She would be stupid to not know this look. She had far too much received this from her upperclassmen and had even seen it in dramas. She was from the future and would be damned to not know when someone was trying to suppress a weaker being. She could not believe, she gaped at him, was he bullying her all along, over here she thought that he was genuinely uninterested. This bastard…. She all but growled, her eyes narrowing in fury, her aura pulsing in indignation. Too bad for the lord… he had messed with the wrong female. Kagome never liked the concept of power messing with weaker… she hated it!

"You could also join us because I could see the shards and this would help us to reach Naraku faster. You of all people should be the happiest when we get rid of him. Dare I say, heck you would celebrate the death of someone who had stained your honour. We would both get what we want, I want the jewel and you want Naraku, between the two of us, believe me, I would be more successful because he is after this jewel. This would be my last plea to you and the rest is up to you!" Kagome almost shrieked at him. How dare he try to bully her. There she had said it. No more good Kagome. This was the soundest reason anyways. Well, he would decline anyways. Worse come worse they would fight this mean bully. She believed in her friends.

Almost a heartbeat passed and the silence thickened. Both of them looking at each other with narrowed eyes, sizing each other up and then he blinked.

"Hnn… tomorrow morning. We would all depart at the crack of dawn. This Sesshomaru tolerates no tardiness." With that he turned around and left. Leaving behind a group with identical bulging eyes and gaping mouths and well for Inuyasha a broken body and…nose. What just happened?

Sesshomaru was just being his smug self. His arrogance seeping through his form. He was however a bit taken aback when the petite miko stuck her nose up in the air in a very well-known show of defiance and her eyes flashed at him. Her mouth set in a frown she flared her angry aura which he better not accepts, made him wince… _just a bit_. He did not understand how exactly did she find out what he was trying to do. This had never happened before. He had envisioned a lot of things, starting from her grovelling at his feet to her bawling her eyes out in fear, but this, this he had never expected. He was now curious. How did she do this? Seems like it needed more research. That he would have then, a rare treat, pushing his mind from his boring life. He agreed then telling them in his no non-sense tone as to what to expect from being this Sesshomaru's travelling companion. A very firm yet nonchalant _Hnn… _was yet again uttered into nothingness which drifted with the swift pre-dusk wind while he trudged forward towards his loyal small travelling group.

**A/n : Wow… what a chapter! I myself laughed writing this piece. I would probably start writing again right about from today. Had been going through a writer's block, you guys could say. My muse is back and so are my stories. Hope you guys like this one. I would try to post more regularly, can't make promises but would definitely pick up my unfinished pieces. Thanks all and do review!**


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